Micro-Dosing: How Older Runners Can Fit Strength Training Into Their Schedule

Every runner knows that they need to do strength training to minimize and recover from injuries. This is especially critical for older runners who lose muscle mass with age. The older you are the more important strength training becomes for your running practice.

Many runners say they have no time for strength training. They wonder how to fit it into their schedule. This isn’t surprising because most training plans for runners do not include strength training.

When I returned to competitive running seven years ago, I came across Jay Dicharry’s book, Anatomy For Runners. Jay is well-known as one of the top physical therapists for runners and other endurance athletes.

I was fascinated with how he broke down strength training to the cellular tissue level. He methodically explains how holding a stretch for a minimum of three minutes is equivalent to what happens when we load muscles with weights. The muscles, ligaments and other tissues experience micro tears that initiate the building process.

The key to this is micro-dosing your strength training to make small, but consistent gains in strength and mobility. Using only body weight, you are loading the muscles and extending your range of motion to just slightly beyond the comfortable range. That range is extended with each session.

There’s one more aspect to this practice. You can start with support, such as holding onto a railing or wall, then advance to no support as you heal and get stronger. Ultimately, you add load with dumbbells or another form of resistance to progressively gain even greater strength and mobility.

Over a period of months those teeny, little gains accumulate. As a result, you'll be able to add more load with additional reps, sets, and weights, typically dumbbells, to take the training to the next level.

Recommended Exercises

1. Deep, butt to the floor squats – There is no exercise more powerful than this for runners. If you can get and stay in a deep squat for 3 minutes daily, progressing from support to no support, you’ll notice your foot, ankle, knee and hip strength and mobility skyrocket within a few months.

Video example exercises 2, 3, 4 below

2. Toe raises – with legs extended and legs slight bent. There are two muscles in the calves, so you’ll need both exercises to train the respective muscles.

3. Tib raises – this exercise counterbalances toe raises. The tibia anterior is in front of the calves. It’s a frequently neglected muscle that absorbs much of the impact of running.

4. The ATG Split Squat – This is a single leg, deep squat that strengthens knees, hips and ankles. It’s compression of the knee joint activates synovial fluid to get it circulating throughout the joint to protect it from the demands of running.

I hope you find value in this episode. If you have questions, please reach out to me by first subscribing to our newsletter at runninglongevitylab.com. After that you can hit reply to start a conversation.